Fireflies forest School - Cambridgeshire

🌿 A reminder that mud kitchens don't need to be elaborate to be effective!

🍄‍🟫 At Forest School, some of the richest learning opportunities come from the simplest resources. A few old pots and pans, a patch of earth, and an abundance of natural materials are often all children need to become fully immersed in their play.

In these open-ended spaces, children are free to explore, experiment and create. They develop creativity, communication, problem-solving skills and resilience, all while connecting with the natural world through hands-on, sensory experiences.

Without a predefined purpose or carefully curated setup, every stick, leaf, flower and handful of mud can become part of a story, recipe, potion or adventure. The simplicity invites imagination, and the natural environment provides endless possibilities.

Sometimes, the most meaningful play happens when we provide less and allow children to lead the way. 💚

🌞Yesterday's Home Ed hawks 🌞

Yesterday's focus was all about keeping cool!🧊....which luckily the woods are amazing for!

We chose a lovely spot with lots of shade, the children enjoyed...

🐛 bug hunting
🫟 Natural painting
📖 Nature books
🃏Giant double card game
🫧 Giant bubbles
🪢slack line
🍳 Mud kitchen with lavender and dried flowers
💧Water fight

The session was super calm, all of the children were busy from start to Finish. With lots of drinks pauses, shade and calm activities the children were all able to stay regulated and cool for the day ❤️

We also had a special delivery of ice lollies and to celebrate a birthday!🍦

One of our alternative provision learners were busy today learning some literacy through games and play, while another was planning sports day activities!

One of our learners who attends our Alternative Provision has thoroughly enjoyed hosting a weekly "Cook up" each week.

He takes a poll around to all of the staff and learners to gain votes for various options each week, and then the majority voted wins! He then creates a poster advertising the chosen food that he will be cooking and serving and welcomes everyone on site to join him for a communal cook up!

It is many learners and staff's favourite part of the week!

Today was a Cheesecake bar! We have stopped fires for the Summer term now and so he's needing to get creative with non cooked options! Everyone got to choose their crumb and toppings! Yum 😋

It's such a wonderful idea that the learner leads each week and it's fantastic to see so many learners joining in and going well out of their comfort zone to be part of it, as well as trying new foods!

Today's Home Ed hawks demonstrated amazing resilience. Due to the fencing and car park closure at Hinchingbrooke Country Park and the ongoing construction project, it meant they had a long walk to our site around the detour! But all the children did amazing! We collected some beautiful natural resources for our cyanotype paper activity and headed to site.

The children enjoyed playing in our site before heading out onto the meadow for some games and our cyanotype paper activity where we created some wonderful pictures using the suns energy! ☀️

We also enjoyed slowing down with some of the children and doing some mindful painting! We are almost at our 100 sticks for David Attenborough's 100th birthday!

This week our Home Ed hawks had a wonderful session. Starting off playing a game where they created insects on the ground using their bodies!

During our session the children had the opportunity to make wildflower seeds bombs, play with lemon playdoh, and explore our swings, ropes, hammocks and slack lines, got creative in the mud kitchen, enjoyed some yummy snacks... Pan au chocolates and the most gigantic strawberries with yoghurt!

We also spotted a super cool insect, which had super long antennaes! We discovered it was a Yellow-banded Longhorn - Nemophora degeerella.

HAF Programme..... LETS GO!
Follow our booking link: https://fireflies-forest-school.classforkids.io

(Please ensure that you complete all of the registration questions, including providing you 16 digit HAF code)

If you were thinking of booking a space for your child in our summer holiday club over the first two weeks of the school holidays do it QUICK!

Tomorrow the HAF vouchers are released to qualifying families and our sessions will be fully booked very quickly. So if you were thinking of booking your child in, today is the day before the rush tomorrow!

https://fireflies-forest-school.classforkids.io

We like to drop off random acts of kindness to local charities, often never sharing about it. But this one is one I feel really passionate about bringing to the forefront, it's absolutely nothing to do with Forest School .....but everything to do with nature and sustainability! 🩸

🩸🩸Periods! 🩸🩸
So many girls are starting their periods and still in 2026 feeling embarrassed, ashamed and scared.

I recently came across Grace & Green they caught my eye because their 3 pillars resonated with my passion of sustainability.

As a world-leading B Corp, the EU create zero waste reusables and consciously craft their tampons, pads, and liners with organic materials for both your body and the planet. But they don't stop there. They fight for access, inclusivity, and education, dismantling barriers to essential care. Because dignity shouldn't come with a price

"From using organic cotton and bamboo in our products to being one of the highest scoring B Corp in our sector, we are committed to minimising our impact on planet Earth"🌏

🍃Sustainability🍃
An antidote to unethical industry titans, we are one of the highest ranking B Corp in disposable period care. From using organic materials to compostable and recyclable packaging, we tackle climate change with uncompromising innovation. We see the urgency, not just the trends.

🍃Access🍃
We are making access to safe, sustainable period products a basic right. Through our Period Dignity scheme and in partnership with not-for-profits, we work to bring period products and dignity to the people who need it the most. Equal access is at the core of what we do, and we show up for every body.

🍃Education🍃
From menstruation to menopause, our experiences matter. Educating all genders and ages about menstrual health breaks silence, fosters informed choices and dismantles the damaging shame that restricts our control over our own bodies. Each period is as unique as the person experiencing them, and that's why education never truly ends.

We hope all the gymnasts at Huntingdon Gymnastics Club love their gift!

Yesterday's Home Ed Hawks session was all about two things.... Snails and marshmallows! 🤣
Our resident Hinchingbrooke snails were built new homes, and observed by a group of children for a very long time! We talked about how to care for them and ensure that we didn't harm them, and also looked closely at how each snails shell looked different 🍃

We set the children a challenge, on the wettest day for a long time, to prepare and light a small fire to toast their marshmallow on.
They had to work together as a team, persevere when things didn't quite go right, problem was solved when the fire went out! Some found this really tricky, and wanted an adult just to do it for them or to 'help' them but we were there to encourage, scaffold and support success. Their smile at the end was worth it!

This activity wasn't about lighting a fire, Or even about eating a marshmallow, it was about developing resilience to keep trying when things are tough, to not give up when the spark didn't light their fire and to problem solved why their fire went out and how to get it going again!

Building resilience, igniting their self esteem and sense of accomplishment was the goal!